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Something is wrong with mouser
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dbctronic:
Mouser shipping staff may also be doing a lot of hair-tearing if they deal with the US Postal Service.

I just sent somebody a check via Priority Mail ($7, not the $26 Express service from Indiana to Georgia on Feb 6. Just arrived today!  >:( >:(
james_s:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on February 22, 2021, 02:04:18 pm ---It's amazing how self-harming people can be, once they get infatuated with an ideal -  in this case, "free" markets.

--- End quote ---

Idealism of any sort is a recipe for failure and disaster in a world where nothing is ever ideal. The fact that no real-world component or system is ideal should be obvious to an engineer but I think a lot of people don't really grasp this.

The concept of a free market works quite well I think, within certain limitations. Like damping of a control loop, you need some mechanisms to keep things within reasonable bounds and prevent wild swings due to unexpected changes in the input. What we are seeing with the energy prices in Texas is essentially a loop with very high proportional gain and no derivative.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: james_s on February 26, 2021, 06:40:47 am ---
--- Quote from: SilverSolder on February 22, 2021, 02:04:18 pm ---It's amazing how self-harming people can be, once they get infatuated with an ideal -  in this case, "free" markets.

--- End quote ---

Idealism of any sort is a recipe for failure and disaster in a world where nothing is ever ideal. The fact that no real-world component or system is ideal should be obvious to an engineer but I think a lot of people don't really grasp this.

The concept of a free market works quite well I think, within certain limitations. Like damping of a control loop, you need some mechanisms to keep things within reasonable bounds and prevent wild swings due to unexpected changes in the input. What we are seeing with the energy prices in Texas is essentially a loop with very high proportional gain and no derivative.

--- End quote ---

Positive feedback, even.  Just like the stock market...  GameStop anyone?

Positive feedback isn't bad per se, but it can be tricky to control!

rsjsouza:

--- Quote from: VK3DRB on February 22, 2021, 07:30:49 am ---Privatising vital utilities such as power is very bad policy. Vital utilities should be owned by the people for the people. Texas is a basket case. An Australian bank owns chunk of Texas's enegry supplies and has profited from misery...
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/macquarie-jacks-up-profits-on-texas-big-freeze-20210222-p574jo

--- End quote ---
The infrastructure is well regulated and in the hands of a few companies with a lot of oversight. The issue is with the "middle men" named "electricity providers" that are simply financial companies that provided services such as flexible payments and other financial advantages disguised as utilities. This is a well known fad from the 90s called unbundling. 


--- Quote from: james_s on February 26, 2021, 06:40:47 am ---The concept of a free market works quite well I think, within certain limitations. Like damping of a control loop, you need some mechanisms to keep things within reasonable bounds and prevent wild swings due to unexpected changes in the input. What we are seeing with the energy prices in Texas is essentially a loop with very high proportional gain and no derivative.

--- End quote ---
The free market works well with oversight and accountability. Too many examples to count, being 2008/2009 housing crisis one of the most widespread ones.

However, in this case the issue is very limited to a portion of customers that used these particular variable rate "middle men" utility providers - just like in 2008/2009, where variable interest rates were the demise of many families. For people that did not survive through hyperinflation or in countries with very "creative" economy policies, it is very hard to grasp the concepts of "value of goods", "value of money" and "economic instability".
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: rsjsouza on February 26, 2021, 03:48:22 pm ---[...]
The infrastructure is well regulated and in the hands of a few companies with a lot of oversight. The issue is with the "middle men" named "electricity providers" that are simply financial companies that provided services such as flexible payments and other financial advantages disguised as utilities. This is a well known fad from the 90s called unbundling. 
[...]

--- End quote ---

Using these middlemen can be a good way of cutting the bills, but you have to keep switching providers since they only give a good price for a shortish period.

One of the providers I was using went bust...   and they sold my email address (along with other customers' of course) to spammers...  I know, because I give each company an individual email address to detect this kind of abuse and now I keep getting bounces from some of the spam victims who are no longer valid email addresses...

It is a filthy industry.   Why not just give people decent prices in the first place, so this kind of insanity becomes unnecessary?   Too simple, too "commie"?
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